Exterior painting in Baltimore.
Brick fronts, stucco, siding and trim, painted by the company that started in Baltimore in December 2016.
122 Google reviews, 5.0 average.
What does exterior painting in Baltimore cover?
Exterior painting in Baltimore is the work of cleaning, repairing, priming and coating everything on the exterior of your home that takes paint: painted brick and Formstone fronts, stucco, siding, wood trim and cornices, porches, railings and doors.
Rise and Prime Painting started as a painting company in Baltimore, Maryland, in December 2016, and Houston came seven years later. In Maryland the company is licensed (MHIC #120401) and fully insured, and it's an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm, which counts for a lot in a city where so much of the housing went up before 1978.
Residential painting here runs from rowhouse blocks in the city to detached houses in Towson, Parkville and White Marsh. Interiors, kitchen cabinet refinishing, commercial work and the rest of our painting services in the same area are on our page for painters in Baltimore. How coatings, sheens and prep hold up in humid weather is covered in our guide to paint that lasts in humidity.
- EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm
- Aerial lift certified for tall fronts
- Sherwin-Williams, matched to the surface
- 3-Year Workmanship Warranty
Text us a photo of the house.
Photograph each side of the house and anything peeling up close, so we can see whether it's brick, stucco or siding and how the paint is holding up, because both change the price.
Or request the free estimate onlineThe surfaces on a Baltimore exterior.
Which of these are in your price is written on the proposal, so you can see what's included and what isn't.
Painted brick and Formstone
Masonry that has to breathe.
Plenty of Baltimore fronts were painted decades ago, and once brick painting has been done, the brick has to be kept painted. Masonry takes on moisture and gives it back, so it gets a coating made for masonry, and anything loose or peeling comes off before the new coat goes on.
Stucco
Cracks filled before color.
Stucco moves a little with the seasons and opens hairline cracks. Those get filled, the wall is cleaned, and it's coated with a system built for stucco and masonry. Sherwin-Williams Loxon is the line made for that job.
Siding
Wood, fiber cement and older aluminum.
Out in the county, more houses are sided than bricked. Each siding takes its own prep, and whether Duration or SuperPaint goes on depends on the substrate and the shape it's in.
Trim, windows and cornices
Where a front gets judged.
Window trim, sills, the water table and the cornice along the roofline are slow work over a small area, and they're what people see from the pavement. Soft or rotten wood is flagged at the inspection, before any paint goes near it.
Front doors
Small surface, big change.
A front door takes more handling and more weather than anything else painted on the house, so it gets a hard-wearing finish. A new color on the door changes the curb appeal of the whole front.
Porches, steps and railings
Surfaces people walk on and hold.
Porch floors and steps take foot traffic and standing water, so they want a coating that can take wear. Iron railings are cleaned of rust and loose paint before they're primed and painted.
Is your house brick, stucco or older than 1978?
On Baltimore painting projects, what the house is built from and when it went up change the job more than its size does, so both come up first at the inspection.
- The roofline: fascia, cornice and soffit, looked at hardest
- Window trim and sills, on every floor
- The painted brick or Formstone face, cleaned as its condition needs
- The ground at the base, covered on a house older than 1978
- Three stories: the top of the front gets the same prep as the bottom
A front elevation, not to scale.
Paint from before 1978
Homes built before 1978 can carry lead paint under newer coats, and paid work that scrapes or sands it falls under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule. Rise and Prime is an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm, so the work area is contained and cleaned up.
The most weathered areas
The inspection looks hardest at the fascia and soffit, the elevations that take the most sun, the trim, and anywhere moisture has been getting in. Which of those is worst changes from house to house, and it gets settled at the inspection.
Cleaned to suit the surface
Most repaints involve pressure washing or another cleaning method. A painted brick front and a sided house don't always get cleaned the same way, and the condition of the surface decides the method.
Three stories up
Plenty of rowhouse fronts run three stories, and so do some gable ends out in the county. Rise and Prime is aerial lift certified, so the top of the front, cornice included, gets the same prep as the bottom.
Rise and Prime Painting did an excellent job on our home’s exterior. The team was professional, courteous, and showed incredible attention to detail throughout the entire project.
Kelvin Cruzabra, Google review
Really thorough work and didn’t leave so much is a flake of old paint on my deck (and with lead paint abatement work, cleanup is suuuuper important).
Jody Moscaritolo, Google review
From the inspection to the final walkthrough.
Nothing goes on the walls until the weathered areas are found and the cleaning method for each surface is settled.
The outside is inspected
Someone walks every side of the house with you, finds the most weathered areas, checks what the last coat is doing, and writes down the scope, the price and the Sherwin-Williams product.
Cleaned to suit the surface
Pressure washing or another cleaning method, decided by the condition of each surface. Dirt and chalk left on a wall come away later and take the new paint with them.
Protected and repaired
Plants and paving covered, containment set up on a pre-1978 house, rotten wood flagged and cracks in stucco or masonry filled.
Primed and painted
Bare wood and repairs spot-primed, masonry given its masonry system, then the finish coats, with trim and doors last.
Walked with you
A final walkthrough before the painting project closes out, with the punch list handled then. The final balance is due after that, and the 3-Year Workmanship Warranty starts on completion.
Stucco, trim and porches from recent exteriors.
Finished exterior work on stucco homes: a porch and chimney, a gable with a bay window, and a side elevation with dark trim.
Take it from the people who've hired us.
Exterior painting questions.
How much does it cost to paint the exterior of a 2,000 square foot house in Baltimore?
The cost to paint the exterior of a 2,000 square foot house in Baltimore depends on what the house is built from, how many stories it has, the condition of the paint already on it and of the wood underneath. A brick rowhouse front and a sided colonial with the same floor area are different jobs. Baltimore and Houston also price differently, so Rise and Prime writes a price only after someone has seen the house, and a text with a photo of each side is a good place to start.
Can I just paint over old exterior paint?
You can paint over old exterior paint when it's sound, clean and dull enough for the new coat to grip, but paint that's peeling, chalking or flaking has to be scraped, sanded and spot-primed first. New paint only holds as well as the coat underneath it. On a house built before 1978, a contractor paid to do that scraping has to follow the EPA's lead-safe work practices, because the bottom layers may contain lead.
When should you not paint the outside of a house?
You shouldn't paint the outside of a house when rain is on the way, when the surface is still wet or carrying dew, or when the temperature is below the minimum printed on the paint can. In Baltimore that rules out most of winter and plenty of humid summer mornings. Hot afternoon sun on a dark wall causes trouble too, because the paint dries before it can level out.
Who are the best painting companies in Baltimore?
The best painting companies in Baltimore are the ones that can show you a Maryland MHIC license number, proof of insurance and, on a pre-1978 house, an EPA lead-safe firm certification, and then put the scope and the product in writing. Look the MHIC number up on the state's public register before you sign. It's fair to ask how many years of experience the painters have with brick and older paint, too. Rise and Prime holds MHIC #120401 and is an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm.
What paint do you use on brick and stucco?
Rise and Prime uses Sherwin-Williams coatings matched to the surface, and on brick and stucco that's usually Loxon, the line built for masonry. Siding and trim take Duration or SuperPaint, depending on the substrate and its condition. The product is named on your proposal before you sign, so you can look it up.
Do you serve my area?
Rise and Prime offers exterior painting services across Baltimore City and Baltimore County, including Towson, Overlea, Rosedale, Parkville, Nottingham, White Marsh, Middle River, Glen Arm and Joppatowne, plus Ellicott City and Harford County. The estimate is free anywhere in that area.
Someone walks the outside with you.
Tell us what the house is built from and how many stories it has, and the scope and the price come back in writing, with the first call in Spanish if that's easier.
- 122 Google reviews, 5.0 average
- EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm
- Fully insured
- 3-Year Workmanship Warranty
Get a written price for the exterior.
Tell us what the house is made of, how many stories it has and roughly when it was built. Someone will walk it with you and write the scope, with the product named.
Rooms inside are interior painting in Baltimore, and one free painting estimate can cover interior and exterior painting together. A wood deck out back usually takes stain rather than paint, which is deck staining in Baltimore.